Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
The University is organising its submission for 2022-23 round of TEF ratings.
What is the TEF?
The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is a national exercise, which aims to assess the quality of higher education (teaching excellence) and how providers ensure appropriate outcomes for their students in terms of their progression through their courses and the levels of graduate level employment or further study.
All providers with more than 500 undergraduate students must participate in the TEF to stay registered with the Office for Students (OfS), allow our students to access student finance and (as a university charging fees up to the cap) receive direct grant funding for teaching and research.
Each institution receives a TEF ‘award’ and rating (which lasts for four years). There are four possible outcomes: a TEF rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze, or the outcome may be ‘Requires Improvement’ if no rating is awarded. The University of Leeds received a ‘gold’ award when it last took part in the exercise in 2017.
A revised national TEF exercise is now taking place for 2022-23 and the University is required to complete a submission by 24 January 2023.
How does it work?
Each institution writes a provider submission which includes data for the period – in this case 2018-2022. Some datasets are specified by the OfS and common to all institutions, while other evidence is at an individual institution’s discretion.
Institutions are asked to include a commentary and context on these datasets in their submissions. This could include a narrative on factors that explain historical performance, and explanation of any action taken or planned to improve performance.
Specifically, the data to be drawn upon concerns student experience and student outcomes:
Student Experience
Student Experience from the National Student Survey (from 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022) drawing from questions on:
- The teaching on my course.
- Assessment and feedback
- Academic support
- Learning resources.
- Student voice.
Student Outcomes
- Continuation (from HESA data )
- Completion (from HESA data )
- Progression (from Graduate Outcomes)
The submission is an institution-level exercise and there will be no rating of individual subjects.
The exercise covers all undergraduate programmes (and the students on them, including international students). Postgraduate (both taught and research) are out of scope.
An optional, independent student submission provides the opportunity for students to reflect on the performance of their provider. Leeds University Union (LUU) will lead on producing a student submission.
The TEF findings will be notified to institutions in August 2023 and published in September 2023.
What is the University doing to prepare the submission?
A core team of colleagues has been set up to work on the content for the submission, with Jeff Grabill, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Education, as the Executive Sponsor.
Alice O’Grady, Dean: Student Education (Quality and Standards) is leading the team, which includes Mel Prideaux, Pro Dean Student Education (Arts, Humanities and Cultures) and colleagues from Business Change, Business Insight and Data Analytics, Communications and Engagement, Educational Engagement, Policy and Regulation, Quality Assurance and the Student Education Service.
We have invited Bethan Corner, LUU Education Officer, to join the team to ensure our submission is informed by the perspective of our students. The University will also offer support, insight and collaboration in relation to any aspect of the student submission where LUU would value this, whilst recognising that the student submission is independent.
The team’s work will report into the Taught Student Education Board (TSEB) and be submitted for consideration by the University Executive Group (UEG) before final sign off by Senate in early January. The Council will also receive the submission for information after the submission deadline.
What will it mean for me?
There should be minimal impact for most colleagues, whether academic or professional services, beyond the core team. However, there may be some requests for specific information to be included in the submission or assistance with drafting some sections of the submission or resolving queries as it develops.
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